Toilets of the world....

headscratcher4 said:
http://www.cromwell-intl.com/toilet/

Not sure why I am putting this in the arts thread, but here goes...
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That's fairly amusing. Here's my own interesting-toilet anecdote: I once went into the restroom in a trendy-looking Manhattan cafe/bar to discover, with some anxiety, that not only did the facilities consist solely of a unisex row of stalls, but the stall doors were made of absolutely transparent glass. Anyway, I needed to go, so I stepped into one of the stalls and closed the door behind me. When I looked up again a moment later I was astonished to observe that the glass door to the stall had turned a milky-white color and was now completely opaque. I suppose the stall doors contained a layer of liquid crystal and locking the stall caused an electric current to pass through the door, although I didn't inspect it any further. Still, it was quite cool to see. I never could find the place again on subsequent visits to New York.
 
Just wondering... What do restroom signs in Scotland look like? Are both pictograms the same?
 
Psi Baba said:
Just wondering... What do restroom signs in Scotland look like? Are both pictograms the same?
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Yes. One says Ladies, the other, Laddies. Very confusing for visitors and that's how it should be.
 
Interesting.

I notice there was a mention of the peculiarly German toilet shelf, which seemed ubiquitous when I was in Germany and also explains a great deal about German pornography.

What I didn't see is the major difference between the US and the UK in tank toilets. In the US, there's a flush valve, which is easy to operate but has a tendency to leak. In the UK, it's a siphon, which is quite reliable but means that you really have to pump the lever, sometimes several times.

The toilets in the hotels at Disney use a weird air-compression cylinder that works pretty well.

Also, so many toilets in the UK are entirely plastic, while they're still mostly porcelain in the US.
 
You omit the major difference between UK and US toilet pedestals, namely size.
According to UK male underwear sizes, my behind is a "large". So why , when I'm in the States, must I brace my hands on the toilet seat to stop myself falling in?
 
Soapy Sam said:
You omit the major difference between UK and US toilet pedestals, namely size.
According to UK male underwear sizes, my behind is a "large". So why , when I'm in the States, must I brace my hands on the toilet seat to stop myself falling in?
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Because, I believe, despite British and European attempts to catch up, we are the fattest people in the world (maybe in world history). All hail large American toilets...big as the whole texas outdoors!
 
Soapy Sam said:
You omit the major difference between UK and US toilet pedestals, namely size.
According to UK male underwear sizes, my behind is a "large". So why , when I'm in the States, must I brace my hands on the toilet seat to stop myself falling in?
Click to expand...

You are aware that the "seat" is a ring which can be lowered onto the bowl providing a wide ring to sit upon with a small hole less than 8 inches wide for you to do your business through. If your @$$ is so narrow that you fit it through an 8 inch hole then there's not much anyone can do for you.
 
Re: Re: Toilets of the world....

ceo_esq said:
That's fairly amusing. Here's my own interesting-toilet anecdote: I once went into the restroom in a trendy-looking Manhattan cafe/bar to discover, with some anxiety, that not only did the facilities consist solely of a unisex row of stalls, but the stall doors were made of absolutely transparent glass. Anyway, I needed to go, so I stepped into one of the stalls and closed the door behind me. When I looked up again a moment later I was astonished to observe that the glass door to the stall had turned a milky-white color and was now completely opaque. I suppose the stall doors contained a layer of liquid crystal and locking the stall caused an electric current to pass through the door, although I didn't inspect it any further. Still, it was quite cool to see. I never could find the place again on subsequent visits to New York.
Click to expand...

Are you sure it wasn't just some kind of two way glass installed backwards? :D
 
Dragonrock said:
You are aware that the "seat" is a ring which can be lowered onto the bowl providing a wide ring to sit upon with a small hole less than 8 inches wide for you to do your business through. If your @$$ is so narrow that you fit it through an 8 inch hole then there's not much anyone can do for you.
Click to expand...

You beat me to it.

I've never noticed a significant difference between the seats of UK and US toilets, even when I had a 32-inch waist. However, I did notice a fair number of UK toilets without seats.
 
Ok, so I decide to spend most of my second trip to Paris visiting dead people. Actually, I spend most of my visits to Paris visiting dead people...

I decide to go visit my favorite author, dead Marcel Proust. Avoiding the crowds visiting Jim Morrison (his grave is a dump)
Marcel and I have a lovely visit, I even stopped to say "hi" to Oscar Wilde and Colette. Then, call of nature. The toilet is just squat and pee on a floor with some sort of hole in it. Nothing but a hole, and let me say that women usually don't have to worry about aiming, so we're not that good at it.

Of course, they didn't charge me to use it at least.
 
kittynh said:
I decide to go visit my favorite author, dead Marcel Proust. Avoiding the crowds visiting Jim Morrison (his grave is a dump)
Marcel and I have a lovely visit, I even stopped to say "hi" to Oscar Wilde and Colette. Then, call of nature. The toilet is just squat and pee on a floor with some sort of hole in it. Nothing but a hole, and let me say that women usually don't have to worry about aiming, so we're not that good at it.
Click to expand...

I've seen the French squat toilets, too.

From Frank Zappa, "Down In France":

They got some coffee
Eatin' right through the cup!
And when you go ka-ka
They make you stand up

Down in France. Down in France.
Way on down. Way on down. Down in France.

If you're not careful,
It'll stick to your cheeks.
You'll smell like a native
For a couple of weeks

Down in France. Down in France.
Way on down. Way on down. Down in France.
 
What about nice toilets?


The entrance to both the women's and men's room in the Dirty Duck restaurant in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, lead one over a series of stepping stones through small goldfish ponds.


My all-time favorite outhouse was one built at tree-top level. I moved into a small summer cottage - $400 a year rent - about a week shy of my high school graduation in 1974. It was located by a tamarack swamp on Lake Nagawicka, just outside of Nashotah, Wisconsin, about 30 miles west of Milwaukee. An ex-con from the city had the other cottage rented for years and was growing marijuana out there.

I always wondered if the clientle at the fancy restaurant across the small bay knew what they were looking at. There was a real steep hill dropping from the front of the upper cottage where * lived. About five or so feet off this porch was a big oak tree that a wooden wire spool end just reached. This was all propped up from beneath with supports, and old raft sections led out from this around the tree and to the front of it. Out at the end you were around 25' off the ground. Pretty much even with the tops of the pines further out into the swamp.

He had wrestled an old soda machine out there that he'd torn the door and insides from. It was just a big hollow box with a horizontal metal housing from where the refrigerator motor had been. Right at seat level.

He'd cut a big hole in that and fastened a toilet seat. Underneath it was some kind of war surplus industrial funnel all duct-taped to a fire hose which led straight down the hill to a fiffty five gallon drum you could use for target practice. There was even a handy rope tied to this hose a ways down so that you could shake it if anything got ever stuck in there.

The Wisconsin State Department of Natural Resources bought out our leases while we were living out there so as to protect that piece of land from commercial development. They took pictures.
 
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